Monday, October 13, 2008 - Posts
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I'm just catching up on the Palin-Bush "I.Q." discussion, and there is just one point (OK, maybe two) I wanted to address. Juliet, I don't know anyone who feels a "nearly blood-thirsty anger against people who read books," and I think it's an unfair characterization. What makes people angry, and blood-thirsty, if we must go there, is when elites and intellectuals condescend to everyone else and belittle their views. (A point that Melinda makes astutely in her latest post.) In this democracy of ours, we all get a vote. It doesn't matter if you have read the complete works of James and Faulkner or if the highlight of your week is the latest issue of People magazine.
I think it also creates an us-vs.-them mentality that is neither accurate nor helpful. Me, I would love to be an "intellectual." I would love to find eight layers of meaning in each novel I read and be able to sit down with studies on topics that interest me and just plow through them. But I'm not. My brain doesn't work like that. But that doesn't mean I'm unthinking or lack curiosity. I think the vast, vast majority of us live somewhere in the middle.
I don't doubt that there are some people who proudly call themselves anti-intellectual (and I honestly don't think that "governing from the gut," as you write of President Bush, is the same thing at all). I think most people who fall into the category, whether they'd call themselves that are not, are too consumed by everyday concerns—working hard, paying the bills, maybe raising kids or taking care of elderly parents, and trying to squeeze it all in before collapsing in a heap at the end of the day—to worry about the same things that elites do. And when they're tired or stressed out, they really don't like being told their views are worth less than someone else's.
You also write that you commend conservatives for leaving the GOP but wish they should have done so earlier. I've shaped—and reshaped—my beliefs and opinions through years and years of life experience, from debating others and even arguing with myself, from listening to viewpoints both similar to mine and different. I would suspect that liberals do the same thing, and I can't imagine having suggested four years ago that people abandon their beliefs or their party just because John Kerry was an inferior candidate. I'm not ashamed of my party affiliation. There are times I've struggled with my support for Republicans (though not always for the reasons you might think). I've got a lot of internal conflict about John McCain and Sarah Palin. But if there's anything that steels my resolve, if there's anything that allows me to stride confidently into the voting booth, it's hearing that Republicans should "leave a sinking ship" or reading comments from people (as I read earlier today) who wish that misfortune would befall John McCain and Sarah Palin.
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Please tell me that this conversation re: the "small-town mentality'' and presumption of intellect based on proximity to the great minds of the Ivy League is some kind of parody; the whole smarter-than-thou thing is part of why people at those McCain-Palin rallies are so angry. (Well, that and the shameless fear-mongering.) It's why the GOP's Lee Greenwood and pork rinds schtick stuck—and why until the disaster of the Bush years, the little guy had been trending Republican for quite some time. What I never understand is why smart people don't see that, so feel free to fill me in.
I don't agree with Palin on most matters, or think her qualified for the presidency, but why would I assume that's because she "never heard of the books that Bush didn't bother to read'' or surrounds herself with those "just dumb as her''? Those who knew young Sarah, the teacher's daughter, in fact remember her as a voracious reader. (And dumb as she we too can be; misunderestimating her is a whopping error, and one we should have learned to steer clear of by now.) Anti-intellectualism and elitism are both unattractive, but only one of them is damaging the Democratic Party.
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